Our stop in Sisimiut allowed us to complete some routine maintenance, stock up on a few fresh supplies, and indulge in much needed hot showers for all! Shopping missions in town proved to be the most entertaining (for us and the locals) as none of us aboard speak Greenlandic or Danish. Despite our best efforts to learn, sign language naturally becomes the international language of choice in these situations, leading on one occasion to Pascale and Valentine imitating various wild animals, including Seals and Musk Ox, in an effort to purchase some meat at the fish market! Sorry, no pictures were taken of these animal antics.
After a couple of days in Sisimiut we all feel well fed, watered and rested. It’s now time to continue our journey North to Upernavik. Fair weather, sunshine, calm seas, and a light northerly breeze great us as we leave the harbor. Our “at sea” routine naturally recommences, although we will be making relatively short hops along the coast from now, stopping to anchor at night at a couple of spots before arriving in Upernavik.
By the way, no sign of Bob since our arrival, despite the crew continuing to call him day and night. We suspect he jumped ship, or hopefully made his own way ashore.

It’s only been a week at sea, but it feels a lot longer, probably due to the almost constant fog that has engulfed Arctic Tern since our departure from Canada. A South Easterly gale is now pushing us north. Daylight hours are rapidly increasing as we pass the Arctic Circle, the line of latitude north of which one enters the land of the midnight sun. More light makes “night” navigation easier, but also adds to our warped sense of time when combined with the ever-present fog, and our 9 hour routine of 3 hours keeping watch followed by 6 hours off, eating and sleeping.
It’s with great excitement that we approach Sisimiut, our first port of call in Greenland, as landfall promises to break this cycle.

We’re headed for Upernavik where we’ll meet the WWF team and scientists on July 24th.
Since yesterday, the wind has been south-east between 20 and 25 knots. Goodbye southern summer and hello Arctic summer: long johns, jackets, fleece, mittens, waterproof jacket and pants, everything comes out … and everything is quickly soaked! But we move at about 6/7 knots and almost on a direct route! One mystery remains, however: the fog does not seem to dissipate or leave us. Either we are in an unimaginably huge fog bank, connecting Newfoundland to Greenland … Or the fog  has taken a liking to the Arctic Tern 1. Whatever the wind and outside temperature, it sticks around. When Bob is not there, the fog is our fourth crew member!
We can’t see the horizon, but the Arctic Tern seems happy to sail in these northern lands. Yesterday we crossed the 60th parallel. Yesterday? Or maybe it was this evening. The days and nights are starting to look more and more alike.